Residents can help crime fight

DIDSBURY - A number of residents as well as most town council members came out to hear a recent presentation regarding community policing in Didsbury.

The meeting took place at the Didsbury Memorial Complex. Deron Reimer, manager of protective services, and Chad Fournier, Didsbury RCMP Staff Sgt., both gave presentations.

Reimer made a PowerPoint presentation and talked about his role as manager of protective services, which oversees both the fire department and the municipal policing department.

"We dealt with 197 files from January to the end of May," said Reimer. "On top of that we gave 133 tickets or tags. That could be provincial or municipal. One of the things we wanted to stress on this slide is that we had 225 warnings that were issued. That was our big thing – we want the community to know it's not just about writing tickets; it's about keeping the roads safe."

Reimer said the other big areas were dog control with 57 incidents. Also noted were snow removal and traffic.

"The concerning one that I touched on for our department of municipal policing was the fact that 24 tickets were written in playground and school zones. Fifteen of them were 21 to 30 kilometres over and nine were 31 to 50 kilometres over. Those are pretty high speeds."

Reimer also mentioned other highlights including teaching bike safety at both Westglen School and Ross Ford Elementary School.

"We reached over 300 kids," he said. "It took a couple of weeks and we got through pretty much every class. It was exciting. That was a big highlight."

The community policing officers also handed out 20 positive tickets to kids for doing positive things such as wearing  helmets while riding their bicycle around town or for helping seniors across the street.

"That's something we just started," he said. "We're hoping to do more of that."

Reimer also gave a presentation regarding the fire department, which falls under protective services.

"I reminded everyone about the flashing green light and what it is," he said. "The fire department has had 102 calls year-to-date (January to June)."

Some of the calls include 30 alarm calls, 26 medical and 16 structure fires, said Reimer.

"Officer Leeson and Derksen and the FireFit team were promoting people for clearing hydrants and clearing a path to the road to make it easy for the trucks to come in if there was a fire," he said.

Reimer said the fire cadet program continues to be successful. This is the fifth year for the program and the department had three graduates this year.

"They get to come out alongside the regular firefighters and learn skills," he said. "They then complete a final scenario and showcase the skills they've learned."

At the presentation, Reimer also outlined the many local events the fire department members participated in such as the Terry Fox Run, Tim Hortons Camp Day and Ride for Dad.

"Firefighters also represented the community well at events like the Seattle stair climb, the Calgary stair climb, FireFit competitions in Calgary and Whitehorse, and they took part in the Alberta Firefighters Curling Bonspiel."

WRIGHT HONOURED

At the presentation, Reimer also mentioned that longtime firefighter Bob Wright was honoured after retiring recently after 41 years of service with the Didsbury Fire Department. Wright held a number of roles with the department including chief and assistant chief and most recently safety officer.

RCMP REPORT

Staff Sgt. Fournier told the Gazette that he felt the forum went well.

"We fielded several questions from the public and had some long discussions about policing priorities and crime in Didsbury," said Fournier. "I felt it was good, informative and we had lots of positive engagement."

Fournier reported on policing statistics for the year-to-date. Total persons crimes are at 21 so far this year with 11 assault, five uttering threats, four criminal harrassment and one other sexual offence (not sexual assault). That number is up already from 19 in 2017 but down from the 27 in 2017.

Property crime is down so far from 122 in 2017 to 71 year-to-date in 2018. The biggest category is mischief to property with 26, followed by theft under $5,000 with 15 and possession of stolen goods with nine.

In regards to property theft for 2018, Didsbury RCMP saw 48 total property crimes in May, up from 27 in May but down from 78 in March.

Fournier reported that there have been 26 total motor vehicle collisions reported so far in 2018 up from 23 in 2017.

In the annual performance plan for 2018-19, Fournier pointed out key goals such as increasing visibility (joint forces operations, community participation events) and crime reduction (priority offender management, covert techniques).

Fournier then pointed out several ways in which residents can help police such as: by recording serial numbers/marking your property; locking your doors; not leaving your vehicles unattended; not keeping garage door openers in vehicles; reporting suspicious activity; and by joining Citizens on Patrol.